Look at the sculptures of the ancient Greeks, the frescoes of the Roman Empire and even the cave paintings of primitive tribes. Any similarities? All the ancients depicted warriors or hunters running with a spear raised to throw.
In the old days, the ability to throw a spear was equated to the ability to survive in almost all the tribes inhabiting the planet. Now it has lost its relevance, but throwing the ball is a mandatory skill for any person. Indeed, it is throwing that allows us to develop coordination of movements, feel all muscle groups and learn how to distribute efforts correctly.
History
In ancient times, residents of different states (rather, even territories) constantly fought with each other. Some defended, while others, on the contrary, conquered new territories. Before gunpowder, all weapons were swords, spades, spears, and arrows. The strongest and quickest won. The one who more accurately hit the target, the one who could correctly assess his strength and in time to get away from hand-to-hand combat, throwing a spear or pike. This skill was a direct path to survival and victory.
That is why in peacetime, the soldiers did not stop training. In order to evaluate their skills and compare them with the skills of other warriors, competitions were held in javelin throwing and lances. Most often, these were competitions on the throwing range and accuracy of hitting the target. In modern conditions, athletes master throwing the ball at the goal, not weapons.
The winner is determined by the judges. And the throwing range was measured by the “foot”, because there was no metric system yet. The judge counted the distance the athlete threw the spear with his feet. It was the most accurate measure.
And to this day, athletes compete in throwing spears, discs, nuclei. All these sports are related to athletics, even despite the significant dimensions of the core pushers. At the Olympics, more than one set of awards is played in this sport. But in order to learn to accurately and far throw, you need to train a lot. The first skills we get back in school, when we learn ball throwing at physical education lessons.
Why learn throwing?
It would seem a simple task: throw the ball as far as possible, or hit the target, which is at a decent distance. But in practice, we are faced with the fact that only teaching the technique of throwing the ball gives us the result. Without training, the most “simple” thing that can happen is a dislocation of the shoulder joint or an ankle sprain. After all, you need to understand how to coordinate the movements of the arms and legs in order to get a decent result. Therefore, throwing the ball almost in a playful way helps us better understand our body, learn how to control it and, of course, strengthen muscles: arms, legs, torso. This exercise is especially important for children. At the age of 9-10, the child already understands that coordination of movements is not an easy task.
In adulthood, young people may again encounter throwing. True, this time already grenades. The technique of throwing the ball is also suitable for grenades. The difference is only in holding these shells and in their weight. Of course, few can boast of such a rare skill as javelin throwing. But to hit friends and buddies with an accurate throw of the ball into the target and add a couple of points to your authority will not hurt anyone!
Athletics: Throwing
Throwing is an athlete’s exercise that requires “explosive” muscle effort (short-term, but maximum voltage). The goal of any throw is to move the sports equipment to the maximum distance from the athlete. Throwing the ball, and it all starts with it, helps to develop strength, dexterity and speed of action. In addition, a person has an understanding of the optimal balance of these efforts.
Despite its apparent simplicity, throwing is a rather difficult exercise. Throwing the ball, it is necessary to assess the speed and strength of the hands, correlate them with the take-off and understand at what point it is necessary, in fact, to “let go” the ball so that it flies far and the athlete remains standing (rather than falling, for example, or stepping over the line ) All this allows developing analytical skills: analysis of the most advantageous starting position, swiftness of takeoff and sweep, and finally, determination of the point of application of maximum efforts during the throw.
There are three types of throwing:
- Throwing a small ball, grenades, spears. These shells are lightweight. They are thrown from behind the head after a rapid run.
- Throwing various discs (the main distinguishing feature of the projectile is weight). Discs before the throw are dispersed by rotation of the athlete’s body.
- All kinds of kernels. The core is not “thrown”, but “pushed”. The core is the heaviest shell, therefore, before pushing it, the athlete needs to make a “jump” (literally, jump and push the core from the shoulder at the highest point).
Throwing Basics
Modern athletics does not consider throwing projectiles at a target. Throwing a small ball at a range is the first exercise. The throw can be carried out in any way: standing from behind the head, from behind the head with a take-off run, throwing a projectile with unwinding it, pushing from the shoulder. The throwing method is selected depending on the projectile (its size and weight). Based on the age and physiological characteristics of the athlete, a sports apparatus is selected.
At the very beginning of training in this sport, it is not recommended to use maximum strength. Muscles and joints are not yet prepared and “do not know” the task, and this is fraught with dislocations and sprains. Learning the technique of throwing the ball does begin with throws on the target (accuracy). Gradually, the task becomes more complicated, and range is added to accuracy. In the future, with a serious occupation of throwing, they switch to other heavier and more complex shells.
What to consider when throwing
So, what does the flight range depend on? Experts identify four conditions that determine a successful throw: projectile departure speed, angle, the height of the point at which the projectile breaks away from the athlete and air resistance.
Let's deal with each factor in order. The initial speed is influenced by the effort that the athlete applies at the time of throwing. Further, the path length of the ball that it passes in the athlete’s hand. And finally, the time during which this path in the hand is overcome.
Accordingly, the longer the path and the shorter the time, the greater the velocity of the projectile thrown. Throwing a ball with a take-off means the speed of the take-off itself, the rotation of the body and the thrower jump. At the end of the run, the thrower creates “overtaking” by the athlete’s shell. For ball and javelin throwers, these are the last steps of acceleration, for discus throwers, overtaking is created during the rotation of the hull, and for shot putters, the last seconds of the jump are important.
Take-off time can only be reduced by accelerating the thrower. Therefore, training in throwing the ball includes training in running with acceleration. At the last step of the run, the athlete pushes the projectile not only forward, but also upward.
When throwing the ball, an important point is the angle of flight with respect to the horizon. Knowledge of elementary geometry and the laws of trigonometry suggest that the maximum range is achieved at an angle of departure of 45 °. In practice, achieving such accuracy is not possible. Experienced and trained throwers push the projectile at an angle of 30-43 °.
It should be noted that throwing the ball at a range does not depend on the growth and length of the athlete's limbs. At first glance it seems that the higher the athlete, and the longer his arms, the farther the ball or spear will fly. In practice, we are faced with the fact that growth only affects the height of the departure point, but with the right throw, this characteristic will not significantly affect the final result.
The resistance of air masses is of the same unprincipled importance. Of course, airflow reduces time and speed. And that means the throwing range. But for such small items as a ball, this is immaterial. A properly “launched” disk can, in general, be “caught” by a stream of air and can stay in the air for a split second longer.
In any case, the influence of the height of the departure point and the resistance of the air masses is described by centimeters of flight range. In contrast to the take-off speed and projectile angle.
Ball throwing basics
One of the primary skills that a person receives is the ability to throw the ball and catch it. Already two-year-olds can do this task perfectly. Of course, children's ball games have nothing to do with throwing shells, but only emphasizes the importance of developing dexterity and accuracy.
The throwing ball must be kept behind the head and slightly above its level. The elbow should not be higher than the shoulder, and the shoulder with the forearm should be less than 90 °. Professionals and their trainers claim that from this position the throw will turn out to be the most effective.
Take-off run
The technique of throwing the ball implies a run of 20 meters. In practice, this distance varies slightly depending on the individual characteristics of the athlete. The run itself should be uniform, but with acceleration. The step is also important: light, springy (in no case run with the body tilted forward). In addition, during the take-off it is necessary to control the position of the jerk arm.
Conditionally dividing the take-off run into two equal parts, we get the preparatory - the track and field athlete’s actual set of speed, and the throw - preparation for throwing the projectile.
Here coordination of movements is of great importance. It is necessary to maintain the speed gained in the first part of the take-off run, and at the same time bring your hand to throw behind.
At the beginning of the run, the athlete leans on the forefoot and slightly tilts the body forward. Before the final effort, it is necessary to take several "throwing" steps and take the arm with the shell back during this time. To facilitate the task, a place where you need to start moving your arm back is usually marked on the take-off run.
How to take your hand with the shell
At the time of the throw, the athlete’s body should be slightly tilted back. Those. during throwing steps, it is necessary that the legs literally outrun the arms. This is necessary in order to maximize the path of the application of force to the ball. There are several ways to take your arms back while taking a run.
In physical education classes at school, we easily master the simultaneous turn of the shoulder towards the throw with the arm backward (also due to the movement of the shoulder joint). When we are interested in professional athletics, throwing the ball requires a search for more effective techniques.
This is recognized as the technology of "taking the ball from the shoulder straight back." This brush movement greatly simplifies overall acceleration and does not slow down. Another way, the movement of the hand forward-down-backward, provides more opportunities to control the timeliness of hand movements relative to the center of gravity of the athlete's body. This method is considered the most dynamic.
Cross step
As already noted, take-off speed is an important component of a successful projectile throw. However, there is no need to achieve maximum acceleration, because this can cause muscle strain. Such muscular load will adversely affect the more critical part of the throw - pushing the ball.
The most important is the penultimate of the throwing steps. It is he, the “cross step”, that allows the acceleration energy to be transferred to the arm with the shell laid back. In general, the last steps before throwing are designed to take a comfortable position for pushing the projectile.
Having dispersed, the athlete should quickly push off with the foot of his left foot to create acceleration to move the right foot forward, carefully, but quickly change the body tilt to the back position and allow the legs to “overtake” the hands.
The “cross step” requires special attention from the thrower. It is necessary to control the coordination of all actions and movements. During the “cross step”, the athlete needs to land on his leg, slightly open outward (up to 40 °), while making sure that the arm with the projectile is ready for the next throw. A slight turn of the pelvis, which is explained by the specific setting of the leg, will help to throw the ball correctly.
Actually, the starting position for the final effort can be described as follows: the athlete rests on a slightly bent right leg, the toe of which is turned outward; the case is turned with its left side towards the projectile throwing, and the straight right hand is laid back. The left hand, on the contrary, is slightly bent at the elbow and is located near the chest. The straightened left foot touches the ground with the inside of the foot. It is very important that the axis of the shoulders and the right hand make a straight line.
Toss
The ball kick begins at the moment when the athlete unbends his right leg at the knee. This movement allows you to move forward and up the pelvis, while the shoulders remain almost in place. The hand should be turned palm up, while turning the hand in the shoulder and bending it at the elbow. All these movements allow you to stretch the muscles of the right side of the body, the front of the right thigh and the right shoulder. The position of the thrower is called "bow tie".
At this moment, the athlete has fully turned his chest forward, and the throwing arm goes forward, bending at the elbow joint. The forearm brush remains behind. All the described body movements allow you to maximize the speed of departure of the ball at the time of its throw. At the same time, the left hand must be pulled back so that the inertia of this movement moves the body forward. When the elbow of the throwing arm aligns with the ear, it is necessary to begin a sharp movement of the shoulders forward. Simultaneously with this movement, the athlete should straighten the elbow joint. Finishing the throw, the thrower should make a “whip-like” movement with the hand. By inertia, the body also turns to the right, increasing the duration of the impact on the projectile.
Common mistakes
In order to achieve excellent results in throwing the ball, you need to train hard. And pay attention to common mistakes. There are few, several pieces, but getting rid of them is the most important task. The roughest - the deviation of the body to the left of the direction of the ball and the bending of the left leg in the knee at the time of expulsion of the projectile. This leads to the inevitable loss of the initial speed of departure of the ball from the athlete’s hand.
In order not to step over the limit line, the athlete needs to extinguish the forward movement. Jumping from the left foot to the right, while bending it at the knee, you can cope with this task.
The technique of throwing the ball into the goal is practically no different from throwing at a range. But one more important skill is added: the eye and the accuracy of estimating the distance to the target. All this can also be "trained" and "rehearsed." After all, nothing is impossible, it all depends on the desire and perseverance of man.